In the field of industrial manufacturing automation and in automation systems used in this field, today it is widely common to parameterize, to analyze, or also to set into operation (field) devices, such as SPS, sensors, or actuators or a functional module possessed by these devices by means of an operating interface provided to an operating device connected to the appropriate device, e.g., by means of a network.
Here, up until now essentially two approaches have been known: first, software applications that must be installed on the operating device that can involve, for example, a PC or a notebook; second, Web-based applications for which a conventional Web browser on the operating device is sufficient, because the application itself is executed on a Web server that is integrated in the appropriate (field) device, below also called simply device, or is transmitted at the beginning of a session from the Web server to the operating device and then executed there.
The software applications mentioned first, also called software tools below, today follow, as a rule, the so-called FDT/DTM concept (field device tool/device type manager). Here, a DTM is to be understood to be a driver program for a specific device and includes its functions, structure, and parameterization. In addition, a DTM offers a GUI (graphical user interface) including a help system. The DTM can obtain the required device-specific information, e.g., from a standardized device description, for example, a GSD file (general station description), provided, for example, to the DTM from the manufacturer of the device, e.g., via the Internet. FDT defines the interface between the device-specific DTM and an application framework, e.g., an engineering tool.
The sensors and actuators can be connected to the automation system, for example, by means of IO-link-based field buses, wherein an IO-link master forms the interface with the higher-level SPS.
Web-based applications, or, for short, Web applications, for the development, creation, management, use, processing, and/or simulation of devices or device functions in automation systems have been described in detail, for example, by the applicant in the prior German Patent Applications with the filing numbers 10 2008 014 153.4-55 and 10 2008 019 040.3-55. In both applications, the Web applications are preferably realized by means of Ajax technology (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML).
The increasing use of Web-based applications in the field of manufacturing automation and the corresponding automation systems is not least of all also a consequence of the increased use of Ethernet-based and TCP/IP-capable field-bus systems (industrial Ethernet), such as, e.g., Profinet.
Compared with conventional software applications, Web applications have the advantage, above all, that essentially any operating device can be used that has available a Web browser and a network interface, while software applications must be adapted specially to the hardware and the operating system of each operating device and are installed on this device.
A disadvantage in the use of Web applications, however, is that they must be adapted especially to each device and installed on this device. Also, in addition to the Web application, a Web-server application also must be installed on each of the devices for executing the Web application and providing its function for access by an operating device, wherein each device or its Web server is to respond for access at an individual address. This produces a series of additional disadvantages. These are to be seen, first, in the high complexity produced from the necessary administration and maintenance of each individual device and its Web-server application and, second, in the high device costs produced because each device must have available sufficient resources, in order to be able to execute, in addition to its actual device functions, also the Web-server application as well as the Web application. In addition, previously it was necessary, for example, for configuring a device or its functional module, that the operating device was connected to the corresponding device via a communications connection, in order to be able to transmit the configuration data and store them on the device.